Ask any real Yankee fan how they feel to be at The Stadium and hearing Mr. Sheppard’s voice introducing Jeter, and you will hear near-unanimous praise and reverence to still hearing ‘the voice of God’. Hearing such a classy voice and simple intro sure tops the annoying hip-hop noise accompanying most other players’ trips to the batters box.

Babe Ruth was singularly the game’s best and most important player ever. Does your ‘logic’ mean that it’s creepy for anyone to wear a throwback Ruth jersey? Does it ‘creep you out’ when you see a Red Sox fan wearing a Ted Williams jersey? After all, he is dead and we should just forget about him. That same fan should be giving Ellsbury or McDonald a chance and wearing one of their jerseys, right?

I LOVED Bob Sheppard as much as any of you guys. To some people, it did not matter what team he worked for. He was a GIANT. Forget, if you can for one minute, that some people don’t root for the Yankees, and try, if you can, it might be hard for you, I know, to imagine that you can actually have an opinion about the Yankees that is not biased by an allegiance to another baseball team.

Oh, what am I thinking. I am asking too much of a Yankees fan.

OK, let me try this: We love you Mr. Sheppard. We have tremendous admiration for you Mr. Jeter. It has always been a joy watching you play baseball. But now that the Yankees have a new voice (won’t ever be as great as the old voice) but let the new voice do his job. Let the new man have a chance to say your name. Don’t you think it is arrogant and insulting to the new PA guy?

Awful thin skinned Palladino, you wouldn’t happen to know what it’s like to root for a team OTHER than the Red Socks, now would you? I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts that the new PA man has zero issue with using the recording for Jeter. The man gets to do all of the rest of the announcing for the Yanks and the visiting teams along with all of the pre game stuff and other assorted things. The word morbid is a bit extreme here, but, oh, I forget, you wouldn’t know what it’s like to root for another team.

Even the most ardent Yankee or New York football Giants hater would respect Mr. Sheppard’s class and dignity. For over 50 years, visiting players got chills hearing him introduce them for the first time. The point is not about respecting or disrespecting the recently departed Mr. Sheppard or Yankee bias.

The easiest way to put it is that if I was suddenly blessed to have been given the World Championship New York Yankees PA assignment, I would be honored to push the button to play ‘the voice of God’s’ intro for Derek Jeter. First and foremost, I already understand that spectator sports are entertainment.. Therefore, as the PA person, I know that the team’s iconic SS is not slighting me with his intro request. I also understand that the fans WANT to hear that intro. I’m not insulted and don’t consider Jeter arrogant. I’m doing my job. Period.

Calling Jeter’s intro request ‘morbid’ and stating that it ‘must’ end are way over the top.

so – by that logic – we should also retire Lou Gehrig’s “Today, I am the luckiest man alive” because – well you know he isn’t. and to paraphrase another dead guy – I thank the Good Lord for making me a Yanee – fan”